HAUT-COMmissariat du CANADA,
MACDONALD HOUSE,
1 GROSVENOR SQUARE,
美
LONDON, WIX OAB.
CANADA
CANADIAN high coMMISSION,
MACDONALD HOUSE.
1 GROSVENOR SQUARE,
12
LONDON, WIX OAB.
Telephone: 071-629 9492 Ext.
Ma.
28 September 1992
Cormed by five to OTTAWA
ach
Mr. Michael Stone
Head
r
Hong Kong Administration Section
HKC 384/3
Hery very)
→ OCT 1992
Hong Kong Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Room WH 304
Dear Mr. Stone,
་
As you and I discussed earlier this week, the Canadian Government is interested in formalizing the procedure for communications between Canada and Hong Kong in matters of extradiction or, as it is referred to in the case of arrangements between Commonwealth countries, rendition.
Since we spoke, I have been advised that Canada has already negotiated an extradiction treaty with Hong Kong. Apparently, those involved in the negotiations thought it would be useful if official clarification of the route for communications between the two parties could be set out in written form by the responsible authorities in the UK and Canada.
There is, in fact, already a practice in place for such communications. That practice has, to date, been to conduct communications directly between Canada's Department of Justice and the Legal Department of the Hong Kong Government. UK authorities have not been involved in these communications. We would like to confirm that this existing channel of communication is approved by the UK and Canadian Governments in an Exchange of Notes.
Essentially, we are proposing that our Note simply names the Canadian Department of Justice as the competent authority in rendition requests from Hong Kong while the UK Note would name the Legal Department of the Hong Kong Government as the competent authority for rendition requests from Canada. The following is the text of the Note which Canada would propose to send to the UK:
"The Government of Canada and the Government of Hong Kong have for a long period dealt directly with each other in regards to rendition requests. The Government of Canada wishes officially to inform the Government of the United Kingdom that the competent authority of the Government of Canada in rendition requests from the Government of Hong Kong is the Department of Justice of Canada."
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